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| Eamon Gilmore: Tánaiste to stand down as Labour Party leader | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) in the Republic of Ireland, Eamon Gilmore, has announced he is standing down as leader of the Irish Labour Party. | |
| Mr Gilmore said he would do so, once a successor had been appointed. He will remain in his role as Tánaiste until that time. | |
| The Irish Labour party suffered disastrous results in both the local and European elections. | |
| Labour are the junior party in Ireland's coalition government. | |
| Mr Gilmore told journalists at a press conference in Dublin on Monday afternoon that he had thought about it over the weekend and "agonised" over the decision. | |
| "I decided last night (Sunday) that the party would be best served by having a new leader," he said. | |
| "I intend to remain involved and active in politics. It is my intention to seek re-election in my constituency of Dún Laoghaire at next general election." | |
| He said the Labour Party in 2011, following its most successful ever general election, had taken a political risk by entering into a coalition government. | |
| "I asked the party to take on the responsibility of government during the worst economic crisis in the history of the state," he said. | |
| "I did so because I believed then, as I do now that as citizens and as a party, we had a duty to put the country first - to address the crisis, to get out of the bail-out, to revert the loss of employment, to get the economy to recover and to do so in as fair and just a manner as humanely possible." | |
| 'Political risk' | |
| Mr Gilmore, who is also Minister for Foreign Affairs, said he still believed that it was the "right decision". | |
| "I am proud of the progress we have made in achieving those objectives, but it was a course that carried a high political risk and Labour has paid the price for that in the local and European elections. | |
| He said as party leader he had to "take responsibility for what happened on Friday". | |
| Mr Gilmore was facing a no confidence motion from seven of his party TDs (Irish MPs) following their poor performance at the polls. | |
| The motion was tabled for a parliamentary party meeting - a same motion was also due to go before Labour's central council. | |
| Mr Gilmore said he had informed the general secretary of his decision on Monday morning. | |
| He also met with his ministers on Monday to discuss the results. | |
| Mr Gilmore said the party and the government must now "move on to a new phase and look to the future". | |
| SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme he would be saddened if he resigned. | SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme he would be saddened if he resigned. |
| "He has made big efforts to support progress here and he'll be missed in that role," he said. | |
| Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said it would be "hugely significant" if Eamon Gilmore resigned. He said they had a disastrous election. | Sinn Féin's Conor Murphy said it would be "hugely significant" if Eamon Gilmore resigned. He said they had a disastrous election. |